CAR INSURANCE SHOPPING AROUND

Shopping around for insurance cover can pay dividends. It sounds an obvious thing to say but so few people do it. Many insurance companies are prepared to offer special packages for family cover, female owners and drivers, even for non-drinkers. You could be saving a packet, particularly if you ask for a selection of quotes before you decide.

The easiest way to do this is by using the Internet and the many comparison websites that are now readily available. You first have to supply the pertinent information like where you live, the make and age of car you drive, the engine size and other factors all naturally come in to play. You'll be expecting to answer questions about no claims bonuses, accidents, convictions, age, address and profession.

What you might not be ready for are the more searching questions some companies are now asking to gauge the `lifestyle` of potential customers. Have you a child?; do you smoke - and if so, how many a day?; is your home rented or mortgaged?

Once you've provided all the answers, you have to choose which type of cover you prefer. If you can afford it, fully comprehensive is always the best policy - insurance always seems expensive until you need it. Most of us will accept that premise, however ruefully after that first serious prang.

If your answers to these initial questions reveal that you're such an inoffensive, low risk person that you iron creases in your jeans or fold your pyjamas neatly, then you'll have no trouble at all in getting really good low quotes for your insurance. But let them sniff the first hint of a 'hot hatch', dubious postcode or a peccadillo in your driving youth and your premium can rocket, however careful you might think you are.

Even when you have a fairly ordinary request, the variation in quotes, no claims bonuses and excess options can produce a mystifying variation in quotes. When comparing prices make sure you are compari...